cleaning and cooking fish on the ice?

[mudslinger64]

i was wondering if anybody could answer a question for me,how legal is it to clean and cook fish in a fish house? i have heard that you cant clean fish until after you leave the lake but what if we are staying in the house for the weekend and want to have some fresh crappie is it legal? thanks, Bruce

[TNT4ME]

I am not positive on this but will take a shot, as long as no length limits are in effect, you should be able to clean and eat fish in your house. They will count against your daily possession limit, so if you eat some of one daily limit you can keep some more the next day if on an overnighter. Keep in mind that all fish scraps need to be removed from the lake, and not stuffed down a hole or buried on the ice. Rules may be different on some lakes but this should be an ok practice on URL , if not I'm sure the others will respond. happy eating.

[Polar Bear]

Some friends of mine were talking to a couple conservation officers 2 weeks ago just south of Brainerd and were told that it is not legal to clean and cook fish on the ice. As a matter of fact, they were told that it isn't even legal to bring fillets out of your freezer and cook them on the ice. I mysef wasn't in on the conversation so I don't know what the reasoning was.

Interestingly, I couldn't find any references at all in the regs to cooking or cleaning on the ice.

Polar Bear

[mudslinger64]

i couldnt find anything about it in the regs either. but what about shore lunches are they saying thats illegal to?

[This message has been edited by mudslinger64 (edited 02-02-2002).]

[Matt D]

mudslinger64's got the main point here. There is NO DIFFERENCE between cooking fish on the ice or pulling over to shore and making shore lunch ... other than the density and temperature of the water! To my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with having shore lunch. Obviously the fish eaten count towards the daily limit. I'd be interested to hear the names of the two CO's Polar Bear mentioned and probe them for their arguments. I highly doubt there is a regulation that says you cannot clean and cook fish on the ice. I could be wrong, but there is nothing in the reg's that says otherwise. I think anyone that ever got cited for doing this would have a pretty easy case to make if/until such an alleged activity is deemed illegal. In my opinion, if that ever occurred, anglers would certainly need to raise a stink, and with good reason given the implications for extending it to shore lunch - one of my (and many others') favorite parts of a good day of fishing!

[Polar Bear]

Matt-D, I tried to call the guys that were telling me about the fish eating thing, not home (probably up at the lake).

The two wardens they talked to were together on "Crow Wing Lake" just south of Brainerd on Friday, Jan. 18th. They were working together checking every fisherman for license, etc. They saw the grill for cooking brats out on the ice and that's how the subject came up.

I suppose you could find out who the officers are for crow wing county and give them a call. It would be nice to find out what possible difference there could be between ice and open water fish cooking.

If I ever find out more I'll let you know. Meanwhile if you find out for sure, please let everybody know.

Polar Bear

[Russ&Judy]

there was a big disscusion here last year- it ended up -no cooking or cleaning fish on the lake- and shore lunch is part of you limit-you cant catch 15 then go to shore eat them all and catch 15 more in the same day- same with catching 15 eating 2 and going back for 2 more ,daily limit is daily limit- bring a check book if you get caught

[Guest]

Hay great question I'd like to know tooo......

[seabass]

If it were me that got ticketed for cleaning and eating fish on the lake I would ask for the ruling and have the warden show me the specific regulation against cleaning and then eating fish on the lake. Game officers will and have been known to slant a rule just a bit more in their favor to show that element of fear. Cleaning fish and digarding the remains on the lake may be illegal, (it is here in Virginia) but how can eating fish be illegal? If I'm allowed X number of fish per day and I want to cook some while fishing and retain the carcass, I think a judge would be hard pressed to find one guilty, unless there is a law against cleaning fish and/or cooking on a lake
I would not ask the local wardens for the ruling or their interpetion, a call to DNR will get the correct answere.

[codeman]

I've been out on Mille Lacs tullibee fishing and when things got slow during mid-afternoon, I'd clean the ones I caught during the morning on the tailgate of the truck. The heads and guts were being tossed into a separate bucket. On one of these occasions, a game warden stopped and asked to see my fishing license. I wiped my hands off and dug the license out of the wallet for him. He never mentioned a word about cleaning the fish on the lake being illegal. Maybe the smell got to him and he wanted a quick exit.

codeman

[Ybone]

Last winter my sister and family were having a fish fry in their fish house when the game warden showed up, so they handed him a plate of fish and he ate it. However any fish caught that day must be included in your daily limit even after you eat them. If you caught them on a previous day they count as part of your possession limit, but after you eat them they no longer count. At least that's the way it's been explained to me. On lakes with slot or length limits I think it's illegal to fillet or possess fillets of fish with length limits. So for example on Mille Lacs it's probably legal to fillet tullibee but not walleye.

[TNT4ME]

Mudslinger64, eat away, it is legal on URL to eat crappies. I visited with a CO today and there is nothing wrong with cooking crappies on the ice. They do count against your daily possession limit so even when eaten only 15 daily.The places it can't be done is where length and slot limits are in effect, then fish shouldn't be reduced to fillets.

[kelly-p]

TNT4ME has eplained it as good as I understand it. The only addition I can think of is that the remains have to be removed from the lake.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[emtbucket]

Because walleye is closed on URL, Would that not pose a problem? I'll just eat at W.W. and play it safe.

[Matt D]

Good point emtbucket. Given walleye is closed, it presents a very similar situation as a lake with length limits; you can't do it there because length can't be determined from the fillets. A crappie fillet looks different than a walleye fillet, but ... you're still potentially in a tight predicament. That'd be something to ask a CO. ... TNT4ME?

[mudslinger64]

i just got an e-mail from the dnr and this is it. you can clean and eat a species of fish as long as that species does not have a slot limit for that species on that lake. on Red Lake there is no slot limit on crappies so you can do that.They are counted as your daily limit even if they are eaten that day.The entrails do need to be taken off the lake and disposed of off the water. so there we have it. thanks for all your help. Bruce

[Fish On! Guide Service]

This would make things easier on everyone. Bring brats, hotdogs and chips. No neeed to worry about the regs then. Best of luck fishing!

Stephen